


A New Place, With Old Faces

by Kiranagi



Series: Happy Birthday Historical People! [3]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, And gives no shits if you have a problem with it, And just tries not to cause problems, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMES, HAVE SOME GAY LOVE, James is comfortably bi, M/M, Thomas is gay, but it gets better, james is sad, jeffmads - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-16
Updated: 2018-03-16
Packaged: 2019-03-31 22:21:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13984533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiranagi/pseuds/Kiranagi
Summary: James Madison was reborn as James Murphy, and at this point, he wonders if it was worth all the loneliness he's dealt with...Happy birthday James Madison!This is what people do with your memory. Are you proud of us?





	A New Place, With Old Faces

James sighs, zips his suitcase shut, and leans against the side of his bed, staring up at the blank ceiling like it’s changed from the last four times he’s done this tonight.  
“Collage tomorrow… Another place to be surrounded by people who probably lived in the nineties or something… Guess I’ll memorize all the shelves in another library.”

He chuckles thickly, tears stinging his eyes, and hugs his legs close to his chest. _‘Burr, Washington, even Hamilton… I just want to find someone from my time… And I want to be able to kiss Tommy again, now that we wouldn’t have to hide…’_

James sits there in silence for several minutes, allowing himself to wallow in his loneliness for a time, then stands, wiping his eyes. He shuts off the light and climbs into bed, pulling his stuffed macaw close and smiling at the childish, but warm reminder of Dolly.  
As he drifts off to sleep, he can’t help but wonder…  
_‘What’s the point of being reborn if you just feel alone…?’_

* * *

 

James stares at the dorm building in front of him, then sighs, feeling like he’ll be doing that a lot, as his mom starts pulling the bags out of the car. He waves her off, taking the rest, and smiles at her.  
“Thanks, mom, but I’ve got it.”

She rolls her eyes, then hugs him, grinning. “My little boy is all grown up…!”

James hugs her back for a moment, but pulls away. "I'd better get inside and get unpacked..." He murmurs, a bit apologetically.

“Alright… Now be sure to make some friends! I know it’s not easy talking to people, but it’s no good being alone all the time...” Her face softens. “Just try, for me?””

_‘I wish it was that easy, when everyone has their own groups from their own times…’_  
“I know, mom,” He smiles as he assures her. “I’ll do my best. I love you, be safe on your way home.”

She drives off, and James braces himself before taking his bags and heading into the building. After a bit of an adventure trying to find his room, he spots the number, but hesitates.  
_‘Well, time to see who I’m stuck with…’_  
He pushes open the door and walks inside.

At a first glance, he's alone in the room, though a couple bags and a few books are scattered around the room, and the bottom of one of the two bunks is half-made, like someone left in a hurry. James sets his bags on the unclaimed bottom bunk, idly wondering where his roommates could be. Probably with friends…

“Oh, hello.”  
A voice interrupts his thoughts, as well as startles him, and he whirls around, gaze searching the room. “...Who said that?”

He's answered by a chuckle, and the sound of shuffling pages reaches his ears before the voice returns.  
“Up and forward.”

James looks where he was told, and relaxes when he sees the other male sitting on the bunk above the occupied one. “Oh, hi, I didn't see you there…”

“That's quite alright,” his apparent roommate says kindly as he climbs down, and holds his hand out for James to shake. “I'm Aaron, Aaron Brooks. It's nice to meet you!”

James shakes his hand, doing his best to smile back. “James Murphy. It's nice to meet you, Aaron.”

Aaron gestures to the other taken bed. “Our other roommate is Thomas Jones. He and I have been friends since we were ten, so we'll probably act pretty strangely around each other. I apologize in advance for our friend group.”  
He grimaces, looking suddenly worried. “And I really hope you're not homophobic, or we might have… A bit of an issue…”

James pushes away the pang in his chest that struck when he heard the name Thomas, and quickly shakes his head, a little appalled at the thought. “No, no of course not.”

The relief on Aaron's face is clear, and James idly wonders how much of a problem he's had with that in the past. “Good… I'm bi, and Thomas is gay, and he's really protective of me… I just didn't want any fights.”  
The other seems to shift his stance a bit, like he's nervous, and adds quietly. “Our fourth roommate was moved somewhere else, so it’ll just be us three.”

“Alright… Where’s Thomas, then?”

“Oh, he’s off with his sister, he said she had someone she wanted him to meet.” Aaron reaches up to grab a book from his bed, and smiles at James. “I was just about to head over there too, if you wanna come?”

“Uh…”  
_’I may as well try, Aaron seems nice, at least… And I have to start somewhere...’_ _  
_ James smiles, hoping it doesn’t look as nervous as he feels. “Yeah, sure.”

“Great!” Aaron’s grin is infectious, and James can’t help but laugh as his roommate opens the door, bowing to James as he walks through, before following him.

The two talk as they walk, and James can’t help but relax around Aaron. There’s something familiar about him, comfortably so, and he finds himself laughing at more than a few puns, which Aaron swears up and down are because of his brother and his friend, Thomas.  
The name still hurts, more a bitter reminder than anything else, a tease of his happiness, but he tries to ignore it. It’s not like this Thomas did anything wrong.

Aaron stops suddenly, and James follows his gaze as he spots four people-- probably roommates-- arguing in front of a door. Who knows what it’s about.  
  
The other sighs heavily and shakes his head as he continues, and the two lapse into silence for a few minutes.  
James had just opened his mouth, in hopes of starting up the conversation again, but Aaron beats him to it.

“Talk less…”

The words don’t register at first, spoken quietly and out of nowhere. When James finally realizes what was said, he stops, blinking. “...What?”

Aaron responds with a small smile.  
“Smile more,” his voice takes on a tune, a gentle tenor. “Don’t let them know what you’re against or what you’re for…”

James can only stare, those words echoing in his head.

 

_"Talk less.”_

_James hardly believed his ears, looking at the other man in barely disguised shock. “Excuse me?”_

_“Smile more. Don’t let them know what you’re against or what you are for.”_ _  
Burr adjusted his cravat, and with his words, James finally understood why his face was so often blank. “That’s always been my motto. Hamilton may shout his opinions at the top of his lungs, but I shall do no such thing. I recommend the same for you,” his gaze flicked over to James. “Mr. Vice President.”_

 

Aaron looked nothing like Burr physically, but James didn’t exactly look like Madison. What wasn’t allowing him to comprehend this was simply how Aaron _acted_.  
This was a man who smiled openly, laughed, made terrible jokes, and had already showed nervousness and worry to someone he barely knew. Sure, he showed the signs of an old soul, of someone who remembered his past life, even, but he was relaxed. He was happy.  
Perhaps that’s what made it so difficult to connect the two. He had never truly seen Burr happy.

“James…?”  
Aaron’s voice snaps James out of his thoughts, as his roommate’s smile fades to show worry. “Are you okay..? You just zoned out there for a while…”

“Yeah, I’m…”  
_“Aaron Burr. A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Madison.”  
__“I’m Aaron, Aaron Brooks. It’s nice to meet you!”_

He lets out a breath. “This might be a weird question, and I’m sorry if I’m wrong, but… Burr?” James looks up at Aaron, almost pleadingly. “Is that you?”

Aaron goes a little tense, eyes widening, then sighs before nodding, and giving him a rather hesitant smile. “I was Aaron Burr, yeah… D-did we know each other…?”

James can’t help but start laughing. Perhaps a little hysterically. He also can’t seem to stop himself from hugging Aaron, shock and relief and _joy_ flooding through him all at the same time. “J-James Madison. It’s b-been a long time…”

Aaron stills at the hug, probably surprised, then hugs him back, a real smile spreading over his face. “It really has… It’s good to see you again, even if we weren’t all that close…”

“I couldn’t even recognize you, it’s just because of that stupid ‘motto’ of yours…” James pulls away, smiling at Aaron and ignoring the tears in his own eyes. “It’s honestly really nice to see you happy, Burr. Aaron.”

“Yeah, a lot’s changed…” Aaron laughs, perhaps a bit choked up, then grins and grabs his arms. “We need to hurry. Thomas is gonna be so happy to see you.”

His heart skips a beat. His eyes sting.  
James swallows thickly, hardly daring to hope even as he asks.  
“Is… Is Thomas Jones…?”

Aaron’s grin only widens. “I can’t believe you two actually stayed hidden, to be honest. Yeah, he used to be Jefferson. Talks about you all the time. So come on!”

They’re maybe going a bit faster than they should be inside, but James doesn’t care. He only cares about Thomas.  
Soon enough, they burst into one of the study rooms, breathing a bit heavily, and Aaron calls out, a wide grin on his face. “Thomas! You’ll never guess who our other roommate is!”

James takes a moment to catch his breath, then looks around hopefully, his heart pounding in his chest. His breath stutters as someone looks over.

The man looks curious, maybe a bit concerned for Aaron. He's tall, dark-skinned, with curly black hair. He's wearing a gay pride shirt that proclaims ‘You are who you are’, and a purple scarf is wrapped around his neck. But what catches James’s eye are _his_ eyes.  
They’re a beautiful, warm brown, and when they lock on James, he feels like he can’t breathe.

Those eyes widen after a moment, and he turns away from the girl-- probably his sister, they look fairly similar-- to focus more on James.  
“....A-Aaron, buddy, you know I love you like a brother, but…” He swallows, glancing at Aaron. “If that isn’t James I-I might just punch you…”

A choked laugh rips out of his throat, and James smiles shakily at his old friend, tears welling up in his eyes once again. “Yeah, i-it’s me, Tommy. I’m h-here.”

Thomas takes one step, then another, then rushes forward and pulls James into his arms, laughing as he hugs him tightly. “Oh my god…! I found you, I f-finally found you…”

They both ignore Aaron’s joking protest-- “Hey, _I_ found him”-- and James buries his face in Thomas’s chest, tears rolling down his cheeks despite the wide grin splitting his face. “I-I missed you so m-much… It’s b-been so lonely w-without any of you…”

Thomas starts peppering small kisses across James’s temple, grinning through his own tears of joy. “You’ll never be lonely again, Jemmy. That’s a promise…”

James lifts his head to catch his love’s lips in a kiss, and as Thomas cups his face, he murmurs what he’s been aching to say to him again.  
“I love you, Tommy…”

The warm chuckle seems to wrap around him, and Thomas pulls back just a little so he can smile at James, looking at him like he was his entire world.  
“I love you too, Jemmy. No matter who we are, or when, that will _never_ change…”

 

**Author's Note:**

> In this universe, Dolly and James were married, but they were only good friends. The stuffed macaw is a reference to Dolly's pet macaw, Polly. Thomas and James were very secretly dating, and Thomas was bi in their first life, though he's just purely gay this life.  
> I actually have a whole bunch of thoughts for this specific universe, so I'll probably write more in it soon! Until then, I hope you enjoyed this!
> 
> Edit:  
> I changed some of the dialog between Aaron and James in their room, so it fits better for another fic I'm writing. Nothing major, and it doesn't change anything in the overall story, just a few sentences. It does let you know that Thomas has a sister though ^-^
> 
> Edit: (3/7/19)  
> HEY SO THIS IS D I F F E R E N T  
> I wanted to take a break from working on Aura because I got a bit stuck with it, so I started looking back on things I'd written in the past, and uh...  
> Yeah. Even I realize I'm a much better writer now. I'll probably be rewriting a lot of my Hamilton fics, and hopefully I'll be continuing them, too! But until then, I hope you like the rewrites, this one was actually a lot of fun ^-^


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